


Bubble Boy

by HelloTragic



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Coast Guard AU, F/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 03:57:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18380486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelloTragic/pseuds/HelloTragic
Summary: Killian has seen it all. Or at least he thinks he has, but this one may just take the cake.





	Bubble Boy

 

Emma Swan, the light of his life, doesn’t even know he exists. Well, that’s not totally accurate. He flirts with her every chance he gets. He may have even faked being sick a time or two to see her again, but in the grand scheme of things, he’s certain that once he leaves her unit, he’s out of sight and out of mind.

 

And it kills him.

 

She’s been there a year now, and despite the confidence he normally feels, she has this amazing ability to knock him off his game and he somehow inherently knows that if he were to ask her out, she’d flat out decline. Or she’d just laugh if off like it was a joke. He’s not sure which would be worse, and he has no plans to ever find out. 

 

He’ll happily go to his grave pining after her instead of making a bloody fool of himself. To be honest, it’s kind of his fault. He never should have dated her coworkers. Yes, plural. And yes, to his credit that was before Emma joined that unit, but he’s sure she’s already heard the stories.

 

He’s not a bad guy. He’s really not. What he is though, is attractive, something he’s known his whole life. Getting women has never been difficult for him, Emma being the exception here, and he’s never worried about it before. And although he’s always been clear from the onset with his dates, that he’s not a relationship kind of guy, the women of his past haven’t always been able to accept that.

 

They don’t understand that his career is everything to him, and that if he does well here, he can finally prove his worth. Sure he’s always had the looks, but Liam’s always had the brains. Liam was top in his class while Killian struggled to keep up. He just wants to prove himself worthy of being here, that he isn’t here just because Liam pulled some strings, and sometimes that means sacrificing. 

 

Of course, that was pre Emma and while he’s not ready to throw his career away or anything, a part of him feels like maybe he could have both. Not that he’ll ever get to find out. He’s heard through the grapevine that she’s only got a few more months here. Only three more months before she leaves and never looks back. Three months before he’s left to always wonder what if. 

 

Ya, he’s always been a dramatic person.

 

It’s been a fairly boring week. It’s the off season in Florida. The sun is out but the water’s still too cold to play in. It’s not quite time for tourist and the locals know better than to go out at this time of year. Well most of them do. There were some high school kids last week that they rescued, although the kids weren’t in any real danger. Not from the water anyway. Their dad and his missing prized sailboat probably said otherwise though.

 

But for the most part, his time is spent checking the equipment over and over, watching tide  flows, and checking in with the weather channel. It’s pretty monotonous, but every once in a while a weather related program will come on showing people being idiots. It’s silly but it helps pass the time until his shift is over. He thinks he may actually die of boredom today though. Liam left him a mountain of paperwork before leaving to collect lunch for everyone. Usually Liam sends one of the lower ranking guys, but like Killian, Liam must have been going stir crazy too.

 

Lunch passes by just as uneventfully. His burger and fries doing little to add to the excitement of his day. But then something peculiar happens. They hear on the radio that someone needs rescuing, but that’s not what catches his attention. The guy on the other side of that frequency must have lost his damn mind. He’s sure that he’s going to get all the way out there and find out that it’s just someone trying to play a joke on them. A costly joke, but most people don’t think about that the way he does.

 

Liam’s running out the door, yelling for some guys to ready the chopper. Killian rolls his eyes and goes back to his paperwork. That mountain isn’t going to clear itself. About twenty minutes into his first stack though, and he hears another call on the radio, except this time it’s his brother’s voice telling him that they need a boat.

 

“Come again?” He really wouldn’t put it past Liam to pull his chains. 

 

Well, he would on any other day. Liam has always been practical to a point and would never waste taxpayer dollars, but Killian also knows that they are due for another round of training drills this month. And Liam was unusually bored earlier too.

 

“I said I need you to get out here with one of the delta rescue boats. Over.”

 

Killian cringes, knowing that the only boat available right now is a small almost inflatable raft looking thing. Liam is definitely taking the piss out of him.

 

“Oh, and little brother, you may want to bring one of the medics with you. Over and out.”

 

Liam’s gone before Killian can even correct that little brother quipt. He might take it out on the guys getting the boat ready. But his frustration isn’t totally because his brother refused to acknowledge him in a more mature way. No, it’s because he knows there are only three medics in today. None of which he wants to be cramped into a tiny boat with. 

 

Inside the clinic building, he sees two of his possible companions right away. Luckily Nina is already busy giving someone a physical and Maggie seems to be avoiding making eye contact with him just as badly as he is with her. That leaves one person. He pokes his head around the corner looking to see if she’s in the room they use as an office, but it’s empty. There aren’t any other patients in the clinic that he can see which means she’s probably in the break room.

 

Sure enough, he finds her sitting on the couch playing solitaire on her phone. She looks so calm and he hates to disturb her, but the boat will be ready any minute now, and on the off chance that Liam isn’t in on the hoax, he doesn’t want to leave some poor soul stranded.

 

He clears his throat, causing her to jump.

 

“Sorry, love. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

 

“I wasn’t scared.” He can practically see the defiance in her eyes, despite the way she nearly lept out of her skin.

 

“Of course not. But I do need you.” He blushes the minute the words are out of his mouth. “I mean, I need your help.”

 

She laughs. It’s small but lights up the world in his eyes.

 

“Please don’t tell me that you were out with Sanchez last night. There’s no way that thing isn’t infected.”

 

He tilts his head. They don’t really have time to get into whatever Sanchez got up to right now, but he’s definitely filing that away for later. 

 

“No, I, uh- I was home alone last night.”

 

He’s not sure why he just told her that. She doesn’t need to know that his night was spent watching netflix while eating oreos in his underwear. 

 

“Say it ain’t so. Killian Jones dateless on a Friday night?”

 

He can’t see his face right now but he knows that he’s as red as a tomato.

 

“I’m not- I-” How does this woman fluster him so easily? Usually he has time to think up things to banter with her about before seeing her. “I had to be up early this morning.”

 

She rolls her eyes are starts tapping away at the cards on her phone again.

 

“I meant it when I said I needed your help though. There’s a rescue in progress and I was told to bring a medic with me.”

 

Emma doesn’t miss a beat, jumping up grabbing her jacket and med kit. She’s out the door before he can even process what’s happening. When he catches up to her, she’s heading towards the helo pad and he has to stop her, telling her that they’re taking out a boat instead. 

 

The boat sucks. That’s an awful thing to say and he knows it, but it’s true. Even with the still water the boat bounces all over the place, and on more than once occasion Emma ends up crashing into him. It’s hard to concentrate on anything other than the smell of her perfume, which is exactly why he didn’t want to bring her. Not that the other’s would have been better, but he wouldn’t be as affected by them. 

 

At one point Emma radios in to Liam asking him what she should expect, but Liam tells her it’s better if she just sees it for herself. Killian isn’t sure what to make of it yet. Liam knows that he has a crush on her, and if Liam is using that to somehow embarrass him, his brother may be the one in need of medical attention.

 

Or maybe he’d be the one. Can you actually die of embarrassment? Is that a thing?

 

But when they get to the scene, they’re both taken aback. Liam’s chopper has been flying over head the entire time, but since they can’t be of much use, they head back, leaving Killian to deal with what has to be the oddest thing he’s ever seen in his life. And he lives in Florida, so that’s saying something.

 

There, not fifty feet in front of them, is a giant hamster ball floating across the water. It’s about six foot tall, but there is some sort of structure around it making it even larger. It looks almost like a hamster wheel. Red balls surround it, and he can just barely make out the form of a man crumpled up at the bottom of the ball. 

 

He can tell that Emma is just as worried about the man as he is. It may not be hot out, but the man is in a giant inflatable magnifying glass, and there’s no telling how hot it is in that thing. There’s also no telling how long the guy has been out here. They’re about four miles from shore so it’s not as if he just jumped into the deep end.

 

He’s not even sure how he’s supposed to approach it. They call out to the man, and while he doesn’t make an attempt to move from his spot, he does wave them his middle finger. Cleary the man isn’t as distressed as he thought. 

 

But the fact remains, they still need to get to the man somehow and check him over, and he also needs to figure out a way to get the homemade monstrosity dragged back in. They circle around and find that the far side of the ball is actually and open area. 

 

On his order, the other the other crewman with them grabs ropes and together the two of them tie up to the wheel, coming in as close as they can. He’s a little weary knowing that the man inside of the bubble doesn’t want his help, but he can’t just leave the guy out there in the middle of the ocean.

 

Luck is on his side though. As he reaches over to poke his head in, he gets a large whiff of bourbon and realizes that the guy inside is nearly passed out drunk. Killian can only hope the guy is too out of it to fight him. Especially since he’s going to have to go into the bubble alone to grab the guy. While he’s sure Emma is fit as a fiddle, he’s not sure that she could handle lifting a 150 pound man into their rescue boat. Especially since there’s a two foot gap between them and the ball opening. 

 

There’s only one way in. Head first. It’s not graceful by any means, and he falls on his head as soon as his waist is free. The man inside makes no movement but Killian can hear some mumbled curses. Hell, he’s probably making some curse words of his own. There’s an empty bottle of Jim Beam next to the guy, and a small puddle that he’s praying is spilled bourbon and not urine. 

 

Maybe it’s time to rethink his job. Rescuing drunk men from their own wee wasn’t exactly what he signed up for when he joined the coast guard. 

 

The man isn’t heavy, but he is complete dead weight, doing nothing to help Killian when lifting him up. The ball starts to sway under their combined weight moving towards the hole and Killian just hopes the whole thing doesn’t topple over. As soon as he’s got the guy’s arms out of the hole and he see’s Jacobs has a hold on him, he steps back trying to redistribute the weight.

 

He’s also choosing to pretend that he didn’t just accidentally step in the puddle. He’s going to secretly swap his boots out with Liam’s the first chance he gets. 

 

With the man safely in the back of the boat and Emma attending to him, Killian and Jacobs work out the best way to tie the hamster ball to the boat to drag it back to shore. 

 

The ride back is uneventful, and when they arrive the base, there’s an ambulance waiting for them. He and Jacobs get the guy onto the stretcher and he’s off, no longer their problem. But the bubble is. It takes five grown men to pull the thing up on the docks and lift it onto a flatbed truck. He has no idea where they’ll take it. Maybe to impound lot?

 

He’s been so busy with the stupid ball that he hasn’t even realized that Emma is gone. Not until he looks around and he doesn’t see her or her med kit. It’s probably better that way. Between making an ass of himself earlier and then stepping in bodily fluids, he hasn’t exactly crushed it with her today.

 

Instead he does his check offs with the boat making sure it’s clean for the next go. There’s vomit in the back seat, because his day wasn’t already spectacular enough. After the boat is clean, he goes back to his desk working on the stack of papers, ignoring all of the jokes until the next shift comes in. 

 

He’s tired and cranky as he heads out to his truck, ready for a shower and bed. But when he gets to the parking lot, he finds someone leaning against his bumper. 

 

“Thanks to Bubble Boy I missed lunch and now I’m starving. How about you?”

 

He immediately forgets that all he wants to do is go to bed, telling her that he could eat. They pick out a restaurant before she heads to her own car to meet him there. It’s not really a restaurant as much as a dive bar that serves greasy food, but he’ll take it if it means spending more time with Emma.

 

They grab a booth and before he knows it, their table is filled with empty beer mugs and cleaned off plates. They talk, for the first time really. 

 

He finds out the the guy now known as Bubble Boy is really named Will Scarlett. Apparently his girlfriend dumped him the week before so he decided to move to the Bahamas, but he couldn’t afford the flight ticket, so he built his own  _ boat _ . He was going to ‘sail it’ somehow. Never mind the fact that he didn’t have any way of navigating or steering, or that he didn’t have any food or water with him.

 

He also finds out that she’s only in the coast guard to pay for med school. That’s she’s already applied and been accepted to the University of Miami so while she’s leaving the coast guard soon, she’s not actually leaving town.

 

Killian explains to her that he followed in Liam’s footsteps. That the water is in their blood, and that today aside, he can’t fathom ever doing anything else. That he always feels like people are looking down at him, like they don’t believe he deserves his position so he works twice as hard to prove himself.

 

It’s nice. The way they talk but don’t flirt. He feels like he’s really getting to know her. It’s weird, eating a meal with a woman with no expectations of sex later. No romantic interest. Well, he’s interested but she’s not and he’s not going to push whatever luck the universe has granted him.

 

When they part for the night, he thinks it’s a one time thing. They’d both had a really weird day and no one else would have understood exactly what they saw. But it’s not a one time thing. More often than not she drops by his desk to eat her lunch with him, or he’ll pop by the clinic to see if she wants to grab a drink after work. They don’t always have the same shifts and sometimes he misses her on her days off. 

 

Well, he always misses her on those days.

 

Maybe it’s good practice though. He’s gotten used to her being around, and as of today, he’s only got two more days left with her. He’s not sure what he’ll do when she’s gone. When he has to go back to eating lunch with Liam or going home straight after work to an empty house. It’s going to be lonely.

Today, he goes to eat lunch with her though. The other medics are throwing her a goodbye party and there’s going to be cake. She promised him of that. And sure enough, there’s two in there. One is chocolate, which he knows for a fact she hates, and the other is vanilla. Her favorite. There are also presents. He has one for her too, but he’s saving it for her actual last day. There are speeches about how much everyone is going to miss her. About how the unit is losing one of the best people they’ve ever had.

He almost cries at the emotion of it all.  _ Almost _ .

Emma does cry as she gives her own ‘I’ll miss you all’ speech.

He doesn’t see her before she leaves, and he can’t help but admit that it stings.

The next day he doesn’t see her at lunch either. He’s busy on a surprise training assignment from Liam. He actually barely makes it back in before his shift is over and he runs straight for the clinic to catch Emma before she leaves. He’s too late though.

The walk back to his own office is filled with his wallowing. He only stays long enough to grab his gym bag with Emma’s present still tucked inside. Liam invites him over to dinner with the family, but Killian just wants to be alone. There’s a bottle of rum calling his name.

He’s half expecting her to be waiting by his truck like she was that one night three months earlier, but she’s not. It hurts more than he wants to admit. He’ll likely never see her again. Miami is a big city. Too big to just bump into her.

He has two big drinks that night before he goes to bed before nine.

He’s dragging ass today. He’s not exactly hung over, but he feels off. Maybe he’s caught the bug that’s been going around. Around lunch time Killian admits defeat when Liam sends him home sick. His head is throbbing and everything hurts. He barely makes it home in one piece. He’s pretty sure he even ran a stop sign by accidently because his head is so foggy. He doesn’t even finish the tea he made before he falls asleep in the couch. 

And when he answers the pounding on his door, he’s sure that he’s hallucinating. There’s no way Emma Swan is actually standing as his door with a container of soup and a bag full of cold medicine. But she is. And she refuses to leave when he tell her that he doesn’t want to get her sick as well.

So she stays and takes care of him. They eat the soup she brought and he takes the medicine she gave him. They sit on opposite ends of the couch and watch a Criminal Minds marathon on tv before he falls asleep. When he wakes up hours later his head is somehow in her lap and she’s running her hands through his hair.

He  _ has _ to be hallucinating.

She leaves around ten that night, but she’s right back at seven in the morning with a box of pancake mix and orange juice. She stays again all day taking care of him, and by the time she leaves again he’s feeling much better.

She doesn’t come over the next morning, but that’s only because she has her first day of classes. He’s still got a tiny smidge of death lingering over him as Liam puts it, and his brother tells him to take one more day off. He spends it sanitizing every surface of his place and catching up on laundry. 

He’s not expecting her to drop by after her classes, but she does. She brings pizza and beer, and they watch a random movie playing on TV. Or they sort of watch it. She talks through the entire thing telling him all about her first day. Not that he minds. He’d rather listen to her, especially when she’s just so damn happy. 

He doesn’t see her the next day though, or even the one after that. He’s back at work and she’s either studying or going to bed early when he gets off. He’s not sure what he expected. She’s busy living her new life and her taking care of him was a one off. She felt bad for him. 

Although part of him wonders how she even knew he was sick, or how she knew where he lived since they’d never shared addresses before.

It’s Friday night and he’s beat. Physically and emotionally. The hurricane missed Florida, but it was enough to bring some fairly bad weather to the area, and with it choppy waters. 

And a disastrous rescue. 

A family of four want out not realizing how bad the weather would be and their boat capsized. They were able to save the mom and kids, but they couldn’t find the dad. He searched. He really did, taking quite a beating in the process, but the dad was just gone.

It’s not easy making that call. Having to explain that to a family member.

He feels broken. Just so broken.

The weather hasn’t let up. It’s pouring rain and he doesn’t even bother to use his umbrella as he walks back to his condo. Instead, he lets the water penetrate his very soul. He’s barely holding it together, and when he gets to his door and finds Emma there holding a bottle of rum, he breaks, hugging her and holding on for dear life.

They go inside and she pours them each a glass. She doesn’t talk, just lets him sit in silence. It’s like she knows him better than he does. They’re on their second glass when he finally tells her what happened. She already knows though. He’s not sure how but he doesn’t care right now.

Not when she’s sitting next to him holding his hand. He falls asleep on her shoulder. He wakes a few hours later and she’s asleep next to him. His clothes are still wet and now hers probably are too. He can’t do anything about that though. What he can do is make her comfortable. So he goes to change into something dry and returns, picking her up and carrying her into his room, tucking her into his bed. 

His couch is comfortable enough. He’s slept there plenty of times before, but he can’t sleep. Not when he can still hear that man’s wife screaming at him. Hours pass and he gives up the pretense of sleep. Instead, he makes enough coffee to fuel a small country. He makes too much. It’s enough that the smell of it wakes Emma.

She stumbles through the living room, looking very confused until she sees him. She doesn’t say anything, just walks out of his condo. He probably overstepped putting her in his bed. They’re friends, but there’s a line that he’s now crossed. 

He’s sure she’s gone, but she comes back, dressed in pajamas, and he’s never been more confused.

“I actually live three doors down.”

No, now he’s the most confused he’s ever been.

She’s lived there the entire time and he never noticed. She also left him her phone number before she left. Or she thought she did. Turns out that she gave it to Sanchez to give to him and Sanchez left it on the wrong desk. When she called to find out why he hadn’t called her, and she heard he was sick, she ran to the store and then came to check on him. Apparently she’d seen him around and he’s just never seen her.

Sanchez also called her tonight, telling her that Killian might need a shoulder, so she didn’t hesitate to come over. 

He doesn’t drink the coffee. Not when Emma grabs the mug from his hands and sets it back on the table, tugging him with her into his bedroom.

Nothing happens. They just sleep. The weight of her pressed into his side his enough to help him relax a little. He dreams about that night, wakes up shouting but Emma helps soothe him. 

She saves him that night.

He has the next day off and wakes with the sun. Emma’s still asleep, likely exhausted because of him. He sets out to ready breakfast, swapping out the old coffee pot with a fresh one. The smell of it is enough to wake Emma again. He needs to shop. His food stash is getting low, but he had enough ingredients to make french toast. He’s still cooking it while Emma sets the table. 

Like she belongs there.

They eat in relative silence. He’s still feeling raw and something feels off with Emma, but he doesn’t want to push it. He doesn’t want to push her, so he stays quiet. 

He’s cleaning the dishes when she finally speaks.

“What am I to you?”

It’s enough to make him stop what he’s doing, turning of the water and setting down the plate he was just scrubbing. 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what am I to you?”

He thinks on it. She’s his friend. That much he knows. She’s also the woman that he’s had a crush on for over a year. And if he’s really being honest with himself, she’s the woman he’s in love with. But he can’t tell her that. He can’t lose her.

“I think you’re probably my best friend.”

“And is that all?”

He’s not sure what she’s getting at. He’s not sure if he wants to know. Everything is great right now and he doesn’t want to screw it up by scaring her away. 

“I’m not quite sure what your after, Swan.”

She takes a breath and for just a second he thinks he sees her holding back tears.

“Killian. I- You flirt with every girl you meet. You’ve dated everyone in my unit, and half of the other units on base. So what is so fundamentally wrong with  _ me _ that I’m the only female in all of Florida that you aren’t interested in.”

He’s stunned.

“I’m sorry?”

It’s a question but she must not take it as such because she heading for the door right away. He’s closer though and blocks her from leaving. 

“That wasn’t a statement. It was me asking for clarification about what’s happening right now.”

“It doesn't matter. Just forget I said anything.” 

He can’t forget though. Not if she means what he hopes she does.

“Emma,” he has to grab her chin and force her to look at him. “When did I ever say I wasn’t interested in you?”

“Actions speak louder than words, Killian.”

Well if that’s what she believes, then he’ll just have to show her. 

So he does.

He kisses her like his life bloody depends on it, and it very well might. If she walks out that door thinking he isn’t head over heels for him, then his life is over.

It takes more talking for him to explain why he’s never asked her out. That she’s too good for him and he was scared. 

It takes more kisses too. He wants to be sure she really feels it. 

And if it takes a night of wining and dining then so be it. 

That night they sleep in his bed again, but they don’t actually sleep. Not until the sun rises at least.


End file.
